OF THE OLD WORLD, 415 



a difHcult task to get to him, as the descent was 

 very precipitous and covered with loose stones and 

 shingle. He proved to be a magnificent specimen, 

 his wings measuring nearly ten feet from tip to tip, 

 I plucked out his wing-feathers and cut off the 

 head and claws as trophies, but I had not time to 

 take his skin, which I felt extremely sorry for. 

 Whilst engaged in this task, the female kept hover- 

 ing round about, uttering strange sad cries, and 

 several times I thought she would have attacked me, 

 so I gave her a shot which made her go to the 

 right-about. 



We now clambered down upon the glacier, which 

 by its appearance from the height would, I thought, 

 prove easier travelling than along the craggy side of 

 the mountain ; but I soon found out my mistake, as 

 the surface, which I imagined to be tolerably even, 

 proved undulating, rugged, and much broken up by 

 crevices and chasms of immense depth and perpen- 

 dicular wall-like sides, which varied from a few 

 inches to many yards in width. After a wearisome 

 tramp of about a mile we came to a line of masses 

 of rock, piled one upon another, over which we 

 had great difiSculty in making our way. As these 

 obstructions appeared frequent, and we lost much 

 ground by seeking to avoid fissures that we dared 

 not leap, I determined to return once more to the 

 rocky ramparts on the side, and after a difficult 

 climb was once again on terra firma, and felt more 

 at home than on the surface of the glacier, whose 



